Interior design and fashion design are continually overlapping — specially on the day Pantone announces its Color of the Year, then we all leap to attention. But we are excited to tell you about the time we recently helped two young design students steal the show at a runway fashion competition.

UW-Stout interior design students Emily Gross and Madi Goodrich entered the IIDA Northland‘s 10th annual Fusion+Fashion show at the Muse Event Center in Minneapolis. Much like Project Runway‘s non-traditional materials challenges, this event is a friendly competition among members of the local design industry that challenges interior designers to create garments out of materials typically used in interior design — like mosaic tiles, upholstery, and paint chip samples. Read the rest of this entry »

Did you catch House of Turquoise last week? Erin gave us a week-long tour of an amazing 14,000 sq. ft. home featured in the Utah Valley Parade of Homes. Once you see the home, and even with the expertise of their designer, think about all the decisions the homeowners had to make. Yikes!

The best part of the home tour for me was seeing the Benjamin Moore paint colors in action. What a great resource! Here’s the link to day one of the tour. Enjoy!

Psst. The countdown to The Twin Cities Fall Parade and Remodelers Showcase 2015 has begun!

Wallpaper table runners? What a brilliant idea. When I saw this tablescape posted by Design By Color Wallpaper I had to see what else was out there. I found a few, but this one is my favorite as I’m a sucker for anything faux bois, especially wallpaper.

Whether you spend hours setting a splendid table or you’re just happy your napkins get ironed, using gorgeous wallpapers as part of your tablescaping adds “the unexpected” to any tabletop, formal or casual. Happy entertaining and bon appétit.

Buy a ticket to Chairs with Flair and head over to Surly Brewery Beer Hall and Restaurant in Minneapolis!

Join us at Chairs with Flair, a unique art event and silent auction of upcycled furniture transformed into original works of art for the benefit of Bridging.

Local artists selected furniture from Bridging’s warehouse and transformed tables, chairs, lamps and dressers into one-of-a-kind works of art. All auction pieces are created exclusively for Chairs with Flair in support of Bridging, a nonprofit providing quality furniture and household goods to those transitioning out of homelessness and poverty.

TICKETS: Tickets are $40 ($11 tax-deductible) and includes the silent auction, complimentary hors d’oeuvres, a Surly beer ticket, and the opportunity to mingle with participating artists. You won’t want to miss this! We’re giving away two tickets to this fun evening. Leave a comment here or Like, Share, or Comment on Hirshfield’s Facebook and your name goes in a drawing. Winner to be selected on May 29, 2015.

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The knowledgeable experts at Hirshfield’s are here to make sure your painting, staining or design project is a success. We are always happy to help any way we can, as demonstrated in this letter we received from a Woodbury customer praising Faye for her customer service and product knowledge!

Hello to those concerned,

I just wanted to take a moment to relay to you the outstanding service and advice I have been given from Faye at the Woodbury store.

Last spring I came in looking for stain for my deck. Faye quickly asked questions, that led to more questions than answers. I returned later and met with Faye again. With all the facts on hand, she was able to guide me through the process, the products I would need, and steer me to other vendors that had things I would need but were beyond the store’s range (i.e.; renting sanders) and gave me all the tips I needed to be aware of while trying to beat the weather this season.

The bottom line is that while it took all summer to get the job done, Faye was on hand to see to it I had all I needed to get it done to MY satisfaction. It was a big job and it took a long time, but Faye’s advice, driven by her understanding of what I wanted and her knowledge of the products she sells and the procedures required to do the job correctly led to a great finished product.

I hope you know and understand how valuable Faye and others with her skills and customer care concerns are to you, your business, and your customers.

I do. And I’ll be back with the next project.

Sincerely,

G.

Thanks “G” for the fantastic email. I think we all agree Faye is a rock star!

It’s always fun to add the “unexpected” to a design plan and have it work out. Painting the underside of the wall-mounted sink and outside of the clawfoot tub is “unexpected” and gives these vintage fixtures a fresh look. In my opinion, the paint colors make this bathroom and that’s why it was voted by Houzz readers as one of the Top 10 Most Popular Bathrooms in 2012. The accent colors featured on the sink and tub, Pale Avocado 2146-40, White Dove for the trim, and Summer Shower 2135-60 on the walls…all Benjamin Moore Paint colors.

For your viewing pleasure, here are a bevy of painted bathroom beauties.